Mailbag: Keep spokesman on government side of the fence

Re. “City Life: Costa Mesa needs to hire Lobdell permanently,� (Steve Smith column, July 26): I sure hope that Bill Lobdell’s employment at the L.A. Times and Daily Pilot has come to an(other) end, this time for good. He was a reasonably good editor and columnist in past times, but he can never again be considered impartial in covering news and politics now that he has accepted employment in government, especially as the hired voice of this dysfunctional crowd in the Costa Mesa City Council.

I’m sure he’s a nice enough guy, as columnist Steve Smith attests, but he’s made the choice to work in the government sector and can no longer be trusted or expected to act as an impartial public watchdog, now or in the future. Hopefully, he’ll be a clear and truthful communicator of the actual situations we face, not a purveyor of selectively sunny spin.

Melissa Sweet

Costa Mesa

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Space race is far from over

President Obama has created another national disgrace by shutting down America’s space program and has left control of space to the Russians and Chinese. Now if we need to send a scientist into space we will have to beg Russia to do it for us, and I heard Russia has already tripled the cost.

If that isn’t bad enough, Obama also pushed about 10,000 of some of America’s best technical minds into unemployment or into less meaningful under-employment. Yes, I know that some commercial efforts are in the works and others are planned. However, these efforts depend on using the technical know-how that already exists. The hundreds of scientific advancements that are now in common use by people and industry were the result of scientists and engineers working in our military and space industries.

Admittedly, the space shuttle is now outmoded, but it is all we have and probably will have for the foreseeable future. The shuttle and all its support equipment should be maintained and ready for use until we have new and better ships. What happens if the space station is in trouble?

Can we rely on the Russians to step up or even stay friends of a sort? How could Congress have let Obama put us at the mercy of Russia and destroy so much of our industry and so many lives with the stroke of pen? Obama and his cabal of czars ignore the Constitution and Congress and are working at full speed to turn us into an impotent third-world socialist country. They want to do it right now just in case there is an honest election and Obama and his cabal are tossed out of office.

Dave Connell

Laguna Beach